Learning to Music
I love music so much. Just like most people. Being a musician doesn't mean I love it more, just differently. But becoming a musician does mean you start to hear differently, much like seeing in black & white and then in colour.
Learning to play guitar has been a tremendous struggle. I have no physical gifts regarding coordination, I started late (18), my pitch perception was less than average. Adding to that is how my brain works/doesn't work. Being on the Autism Spectrum means that my intuition is staggeringly poor, meaning I have to know how a thing works to the fullest degree before I can use it in any way. Which makes improvisation really difficult, as I am constantly thinking about thinking rather than feeling. It turns out that many people on the spectrum gravitate toward hobbies that require dedication and repetitive movements. Deeply comforting repetition...
So, I'm going to write a teaching manual for playing music, focusing on guitar. Primarily for my benefit. I've amassed so much information that I often can't find it in my head for it to be any use. Thinking too much and not enough all at the same time, you see.
But, I have a cunning plan. Completing my PhD has inadvertently trained me for what I hope will be my magnum opus: How to Music. The 1st major part of the PhD process is to compile a literature review, essentially the sum of human knowledge about your subject, then rewriting it into a cohesive narrative and argument, distilling this mass of information to a point. See where I'm going?
I'm going to go through everything I've learned from decades of instructional material, add my own experiences of playing and teaching the guitar (and teaching computer science), and create the ultimate guide to learning the guitar, to free the mind so that you can play. I'm essentially creating a literature review of learning guitar/music! I am such fun at parties.
Learning to play guitar has been a tremendous struggle. I have no physical gifts regarding coordination, I started late (18), my pitch perception was less than average. Adding to that is how my brain works/doesn't work. Being on the Autism Spectrum means that my intuition is staggeringly poor, meaning I have to know how a thing works to the fullest degree before I can use it in any way. Which makes improvisation really difficult, as I am constantly thinking about thinking rather than feeling. It turns out that many people on the spectrum gravitate toward hobbies that require dedication and repetitive movements. Deeply comforting repetition...
So, I'm going to write a teaching manual for playing music, focusing on guitar. Primarily for my benefit. I've amassed so much information that I often can't find it in my head for it to be any use. Thinking too much and not enough all at the same time, you see.
But, I have a cunning plan. Completing my PhD has inadvertently trained me for what I hope will be my magnum opus: How to Music. The 1st major part of the PhD process is to compile a literature review, essentially the sum of human knowledge about your subject, then rewriting it into a cohesive narrative and argument, distilling this mass of information to a point. See where I'm going?
I'm going to go through everything I've learned from decades of instructional material, add my own experiences of playing and teaching the guitar (and teaching computer science), and create the ultimate guide to learning the guitar, to free the mind so that you can play. I'm essentially creating a literature review of learning guitar/music! I am such fun at parties.